K.C. Keeler had a feeling he was going to be fired

The Emmaus grad was told Delaware was 'going in a different direction' when he was abruptly fired Monday morning.

K.C. Keeler, a 1977 Emmaus grad, has been fired as football coach at Delaware. (MARK CAMPBELL, UD Athletics…)

January 09, 2013|By Jeff Schuler, Of The Morning Call

When K.C. Keeler was summoned to a Monday meeting with, among others, Eric Ziady, the University of Delaware's new athletic director, and university attorney Tom LaPenta, the Blue Hens football coach had an eerie feeling it wasn't going to turn out well.

The presence of the university attorney led the 1977 Emmaus graduate to tell his wife he thought he was about to be fired, despite an 11-year resume at his alma mater that included a national championship, four NCAA playoff appearances and a .623 winning percentage.

Later that afternoon, Keeler's suspicions were proven correct.

"I was told they wanted to go in a different direction," the 53-year-old Keeler, a former All-American linebacker who starred on Delaware's 1979 Division II national champions, said Wednesday morning when asked if he was given an explanation for his abrupt firing.

Citing on-going negotiations with the university over a contract settlement, Keeler, still emotionally drained from the news 48 hours later, declined further comment. Keeler signed a 10-year extension following Delaware's last NCAA FCS title game appearance. The extension runs through the 2017 season and is worth approximately $300,000 annually, according to published reports.

In a statement released Monday night, Keeler, who was 86-52 with the Blue Hens, said "I am tremendously disappointed and obviously disagree with the decision," but he thanked the university for giving him the opportunity to coach at what he described as his "dream job."

"Delaware was truly like family to me. I wish the University the best going forward. I am a proud Blue Hen and always will be," the statement concludes.

The firing took place a little over seven weeks after a 41-10 loss to Villanova that completed a 5-6 season, and just four weeks before National Letter of Intent Day.

"The timing is all on me," Ziady, who took over his duties on Nov. 1, said Wednesday. "When the season ended I had been the AD for 17 days, and there was no way I could make an assessment on a program like this in 17 days."

Ziady said he "sensed" issues with the program's direction soon after his arrival, concerns that grew stronger as he conducted his evaluation. However, he strongly emphasized that no improprieties or NCAA violations were discovered that would have contributed to his decision.

"Absolutely none … nothing happened in that regard," Ziady said. "On the field is part of the picture, but there are support structure issues that develop, especially with coaches with a great long tenure. I'm very respectful of what K.C. did here — he was part of some of the greatest moments in the program's history, as a player and as a coach. But sometimes, you just need a new direction."

One factor that might have led to the dismissal was a drop in fan support. Delaware's home attendance has declined from 20,684 per game in 2010 to 19,018 in 2011 and 18,542 this past season, the lowest figure since 1997.

"We must reinvigorate our program and re-energize our supporters as we lay the foundation for future success," Ziady said in Monday's announcement.

Wednesday, he acknowledged that factors such as attendance play a role in such decisions.

"There's a lot of factors that are important pieces at the end of the day. Unfortunately, that's part of the business we're in," he said.

Keeler took three Delaware teams to the NCAA title game, but the Blue Hens have missed the FCS playoffs four of the last five years. He's also had three of the school's nine losing seasons since 1940, including 2012, when the Blue Hens lost their last four games for the first time since 1935 and had their first four-game losing streak overall since 1967.

The 2012 season began with the fourth 4-0 start under Keeler — they had reached the title game each of the first three times — before injuries took their toll. Overall, a third of Delaware's scholarship players were sidelined at some point.

The Hens will welcome back 20 regulars as well as 12 more who started at least one game last season.

Prior to his firing, Keeler had received 12 verbal commitments from recruits, and said he spent time Monday night and Tuesday "trying to help keep the class" for Delaware.

Ziady emphasized that it would have been unfair to delay a coaching change until after letter of intent day.

"It wouldn't have been honest with these recruits," said Ziady, who said he contacted most of those verbal commitments (within NCAA guidelines) and that "they're all still extremely excited about coming to Delaware."

Ziady hopes to have a new coach by the signing date and said he's "looking for the best coach for the University of Delaware, not the best coach from the state of Delaware," implying that ties to the program are not a prerequisite.

Keeler, whose father and an older brother died last year, said he wants to coach again but may take his time before pursuing other opportunities.